Shadow of a Star and Pecos Crossing

Book excerpt: Two classic wild westerns in one volume from seven-time Spur Award-winning author Elmer Kelton. Shadow of a Star Deputy Sheriff Jim-Bob McClain isn't sure he's ready to follow in his father's footsteps as the law in Coolridge County. In fact, he has a hard enough time keeping the peace between the drunks in the local saloon. But with tough Sheriff Mont Naylor to back him up he figures he can handle whatever comes his way. Jim-Bob's first real assignment is no piece of cake. He must escort a ruthless outlaw into the hands of justice. All seems well with the lawless killer firmly in Jim-Bob's custody. But nothing prepares him for an angry mob, determined to take the law into their own hands and provide their own brand justice: a hangman's noose. Pecos Crossing Johnny Fristo and Speck Quitman, young, hard-working cowboys from Fort Concho, Texas, have worked six months--at $20 a month--on the Devil's River. Their boss, a hawk-faced cow trader named Larramore, reneges on the money he owes the boys and sneaks out of the cow camp and heads for San Angelo. Fristo is tall and thin, his mind a hundred miles away; Quitman is short, bandy-legged, and "bedazzled by the flash of cards and the slosh of whiskey." The two are as different as sun and moon but are inseparable—and now they have a mission: find Larramore and extract the money he owes them.